The latest OnePlus flagship smartphone is out and is poised to give the other flagships a tough competition. So how does it fair against the Samsung Galaxy S9? Here are a few talking points.

OnePlus 6 vs Samsung Galaxy S9.
(Image: News18.com)

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The battle of the flagship Android smartphones has just got fiercer with the recent launches in 2018. On one hand, Samsung came up with its flagship smartphone for 2018 in the form of the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+, while on the other, Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus introduced its next ‘flagship killer’ as the OnePlus 6. We recently listed 5 reasons why the OnePlus 6 is a better buy than the Apple iPhone X. But does the new OnePlus smartphone score equally well against the Samsung Galaxy S9?

Well, a comparison between the two is a subjective matter which depends a lot on the user’s choice and perception. However, there are certain features on the OnePlus 6 which hold an edge over the Samsung Galaxy S9. What are these? We list them here:

1. The Stock Android Appeal

None of the two smartphones come with a stock Android OS. Having said that, the operating system powering the OnePlus 6 is a lot closer to the stock Android experience. So much so, that you will not be able to find the tweaks on the OxygenOS until and unless you dig deep into the smartphone.

Samsung Galaxy S9, as all of Samsung’s flagship devices till date, uses Samsung’s own UI on top of Android Oreo. While Samsung has considerably cut down on the add-ons accompanying the Android Oreo, it still lacks that close-to-Android experience.

OnePlus is known to bring the latest Android updates to its flagship devices as soon as they are out. Current example of this is the fact that Android P Beta version is already available for download on the OnePlus 6 and the company is expected to bring the final version to the device too, as soon as the Android P rolls out.

Samsung does not have an equally impressive track record in bringing Google updates to its flagships. Android Oreo roll out on the Galaxy S8 and the Note 8 took a considerable time. This might be due to the fact that the company has to make tweaks to the Google updates to suit its own OS. Whatever the reason might be, we can just hope that Samsung brings the Android P update for its Galaxy S9 users on time.

3. Snapdragon vs Exynos

Current Samsung flagships retail with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC in select markets like the US. In India, the company offers an Exynos processor on the same smartphones. It is not that the Exynos processor is slow but the flagship mobile processor of Qualcomm beats it in terms of performance. It can be considered as a comparison of ‘better’ and the ‘best’.

OnePlus 6 is powered by a 2.8GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC which is unarguably the fastest processor in the market to date. And the difference is easily noticeable. The speed comparison of both the smartphones shows a visibly faster performance on the OnePlus 6. If you consider the Galaxy S9 to be fast, the OnePlus 6, in all respect, is blazing fast.

This is not a major plus on the OnePlus 6. However, the notch display is the ongoing trend in smartphones and those who like it, can only find it on the OnePlus 6 and not the Galaxy S9. Also, if at some point you realize that the notch display is not working out for you, OnePlus also gives you the option of switching it off through its latest update.

5. Price

This is where OnePlus 6 throws an atomic bomb over all its competitors and not just the Galaxy S9. OnePlus is known for creating ‘flagship killer’ devices and that is accredited to the combination of the best specifications and the lowest price point. Let us compare the India prices of both the devices:

OnePlus 6 on the other hand, comes with a starting price of Rs 34,999 (64GB) while its 256GB variant is available for purchase at a price of Rs 44,999. You essentially save more than Rs 20,000 on both the deals.

What’s more, the OnePlus 6 comes with a 6.28-inch display. It is the big brother of Galaxy S9, i.e. the Galaxy S9+ that offers this screen size. Price comparison of the two goes as follows:

Galaxy S9+ 64 GB is available for Rs 64,900 while the 256GB model touches up to 72,900, a whopping Rs 28,000 higher than the same variant of the OnePlus 6.